Rubio warns Panama of US 'measures', says Chinese influence around Canal is 'unacceptable

In a stern warning to Panama, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the United States will take “measures” unless there are “immediate changes” on the Panama Canal, alleging it had violated the handover treaty. Rubio said that Chinese influence around the Panama Canal is ‘unacceptable’.

Meeting President Jose Raul Mulino, Rubio “made clear that this status quo is unacceptable and that absent immediate changes, it would require the United States to take measures necessary to protect its rights under the treaty,” State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said.

However, Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino said he did not see a serious threat of US military force to seize the Panama Canal despite forceful comments by Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a meeting.

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“I don’t feel that there is any real threat at this time against the treaty, its validity, or much less of the use of military force to seize the canal,” Mulino told reporters, referring to the treaty that handed over the canal at the end of 1999.

A day after Trump announced he was imposing major tariffs on Canada and Mexico, prompting retaliation from those countries, Rubio was set for perhaps a less confrontational and more diplomatic approach. After talks with President José Raúl Mulino, Rubio planned to tour an energy facility and then the canal, the object of Trump’s intense interest.

Mulino has said there will be no negotiation with the U.S. over ownership of the canal, and some Panamanians have staged protests over Trump’s plans. Mulino said he hoped Rubio’s visit would focus on shared interests such as migration and combating drug trafficking.

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Following Trump’s threat’s to take back the canal, Panama launched an audit of publicly listed Hong Kong company CK Hutchison Holdings, which operates two ports at the canal’s Atlantic and Pacific entrances.

Rubio, a longtime China hawk during his Senate career, said last week that China could use the ports to shut down the canal, a vital route for U.S. shipping, in the event of a conflict between Beijing and Washington.

Rubio also plans to discuss migration issues in Panama, which cooperates with the United States on preventing migration across the Darien gap, the route across Panama’s rugged southern border with Colombia used by human traffickers and drug smugglers.

Rubio has ordered the State Department to put migration issues at the center of its diplomacy with countries in the region. Officials have said Rubio will use the trip to smooth the acceptance of U.S. deportation flights to the region.

In a Wall Street Journal opinion piece on Friday, Rubio said mass migration, drugs and hostile policies pursued by Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela have wreaked havoc, and port facilities at the either end of the canal are run by a China-based company, leaving the waterway vulnerable to pressure from the Beijing government.

“We’re going to address that topic,” Rubio said a day earlier. “The president’s been pretty clear he wants to administer the canal again. Obviously, the Panamanians are not big fans of that idea. That message has been brought very clear.”

The American-built canal was turned over to the Panamanians in 1999 and they object strongly to Trump’s demand to hand it back.

Despite Mulino’s rejection of any negotiation over ownership, some believe Panama may be open to a compromise under which canal operations on both sides are taken away from the Hong Kong-based Hutchison Ports company, which was given a 25-year no-bid extension to run them. An audit into the suitability of that extension is already under way and could lead to a rebidding process.

What is unclear is whether Trump would accept the transfer of the concession to an American or European company as meeting his demands, which appear to cover more than just operations.

Rubio’s trip, which will also take him to El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic, comes amid a freeze in U.S. foreign assistance. The State Department said Sunday that Rubio had approved waivers for certain critical programs in countries he is visiting but details of those were not immediately available.

With inputs from agencies